Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX150 Review

I had received a request for more information on my new point and shoot digital camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX150 which I find to be increasingly awesome the more and more I use it.

If you are someone who is a hobby photographer, chances are you’ll have a digital SLR (dSLR) camera as your main toy. But for those times when you can’t lug your clunky toy around, you’ll want to reach for that nice portable point and shoot camera. This is where this camera comes in.

Weighing at only half a pound with a battery and SD card, you can’t argue with the weight. The camera’s small size and large 3″ LCD screen makes for easy picture taking as well as great picture viewing. Even with the lens out, the size of the camera is still very small. As sexy as this camera looks, my biggest concern is scratching the LCD screen. As this is your only viewfinder for the camera, 1 scratch could mean the end to your shooting. Luckily, there are LCD screen protectors that could save the life of your camera.

But lets get to the nitty gritty of the camera and how it works… the real reason I purchased this camera. More after the bump!

1. RAW format: This camera can take pictures in RAW, RAW+JPEG or JPEG formats. While the standard format of most cameras is JPEG, RAW adds another dimension of post shoot formating as this format is considered the “digital negative” of film photography. For those who like to edit their pictures in software like Photoshop before publishing, this is one of the very few point and shoot cameras that offers this file format.
2. Manual mode: Exposure compensation and auto bracketing makes this camera worth while. While you can manually adjust the exposure of your shot, there is a built in auto bracketing (AE) which allows you to take 3 pictures simultaneously: 1 shot under exposed (with little light), 1 normal shot, and 1 shot over exposed (with more light). The camera then merges these 3 pictures together to create a more defined image. You also have control of the aperture range as well as the shutter speed for those awesome nighttime sky shots or light graffiti (Part 1 and Part 2 to come next week). Besides, if you can’t use manual mode, there are 23 different scene modes you can choose from…
   

   Auto bracketing (+/- 1/3) without flash

3. HD or High Definition: Everything now is in HD and so is this camera. There are 3 different aspect ratios: 4:3 which is the normal tube TV resolution or a normal montior ratio, 3:2 which is a bit more widescreen format, and 16:9 which is the full HD format. Not only are pictures taken in HD, but you can also take video in HD at a 16:9 ratio at 30 frames per second (which is standard).

   Note, you will want to go to the YouTube site to watch in HD… this is just normal quality.

4. Speaking of HD movies, this camera has a built in microphone and speaker for recording and playback!
5. Image Stabilizer (IS): This is for those who drink 3-4 cups of “coffee” a day and can’t stop shaking. Combine this with auto focus and face tracking, you shouldn’t have any problems taking pictures of people when you’re drunk.
6. The lens: Its a Leica which is probably one of the best lenses out there. Since this is an ultra compact digital camera, the optical zoom isn’t that high (only 3.6x) and when combined with the digital zoom (4x), you can get a max of 30.8x which is pretty unreal but at this point, you start to lose quality.
7. SD cards: pop a 16GB SD card and you won’t need to delete pictures for a long time!
8. Finally 14.7 megapixels: Yes, 14.7! That is a lot for a tiny point and shoot camera. The biggest problem with this though is the small image sensor (1/1.72″ CCD). When you combine the 2 together, you can get some very grainy pictures, especially if you decide to make that 8.5″ x 11″ blow up of your cat…

With the positives come the negatives:

1. Battery Life: Apparently 330 pictures for a single battery is standard. I don’t seem to think so. When I took my trip to San Diego, this camera barely lasted the full day. And by the end, I really had to be certain of shots I wanted to take. My advice would be to pick up a spare battery. The best part about the battery though is that the charger is separate… you will need to take the battery out to charge so 1 in the camera and 1 in the charge at all times.
2. Software: Can’t camera companies come up with better software? The built in software is pretty horrible. AcrSoft (which is included) does include a panorama maker which could let you piece multiple pictures togeter, but I have yet to use it…
3. Flash: Like a lot of reviews, the flash is weak. As is taking pictures in low light settings. They become grainy and start to look bad. Anything above ISO 400 and the picture quality starts to decline.
4. 3″ LCD screen: While big is nice, I’d hate for it to get scratched…

As you can see, the pros definitely outweigh the cons and I have no regrets purchasing this camera. With quick start up times and easy to use iA system (“Intelligent Auto”), all you need to do is click away.